'The X-Files' Recap: 'This'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

If there’s one thing I find supremely amusing when it comes to The X-Files, it’s the sheer fact that so many episodes are cited as being free from the show’s mythology when that is simply not the case. Granted there are plenty of wonderful stand-alone episodes when it comes to this series, but the mythology is in fact what makes this saga so extremely compelling because for years now we’ve been dying to know how on earth mankind will avoid the cataclysm that has been hanging over the story for as long as I can remember.
 
I make mention of that, simply because I distinctly recall reading a few interviews before season eleven premiered wherein creator Chris Carter cited that there would be far less mythology episodes this year and at first glance, it seemed as though last night’s entry in the saga, ‘This’, was indeed going to be free of the grand conspiracy growing behind the scenes. Instead this episode surprised all of us with the return of an iconic character in the opening moments of the story when Richard ‘Ringo’ Langly’s face appeared on Mulder’s phone, calling out to his old friend and asking if he was dead.
 
What followed shortly after this surprise appearance was a wild goose chase, wherein Mulder and Scully were the prize in question and we were led into an intriguing world of cyber espionage as the duo did their best to figure out how a seemingly sentient version of Langly made his way onto Mulder’s phone and what they uncovered was incredibly fascinating. It turns out that Langly had his mind scanned and uploaded to a super server in the hopes of being able to cheat death and while that was in fact a success, the sheer torture of a perfect world without any direction or purpose, or eternal peace, was too much for Langly to bear, and he begged Mulder and Scully to put an end to such madness.
 
Which brings us back to the Mythology and how it found its way into this episode. Because it was only within the walls of the Titanpointe building, that we came to learn that the server’s creation was apparently part of Mister Y’s grand plan to push mankind into outer space, since some of history’s greatest minds were trapped within this Digital Netherworld, and their sole purpose was to come up with technological advances that would help the species continue on amongst the stars and thankfully, Mulder and Scully were able to put an end to Langly’s pain by disabling the server…or so it seemed. Because in the closing moments of this tale, Ringo popped up once again, begging for mercy since there is apparently, a backup server…
 
If anything, let’s take a moment and just celebrate how cool it was to see one of the Lone Gunmen return to the series, without the help of a hallucination, and I’m so glad they found a unique and special way to bring Ringo back into the fold seeing as to how this episode put to bed any possibility that the Gunmen are alive in any physical sense and really, I do like that the mythology finds a way to creep into just about every episode that it can. Because really, that’s what drew us into this story in the first place, the fight to save all of mankind, and considering the fact that Gillian Anderson has announced she’s leaving the show for good, I’m hoping these little peppered moments continue so that we can finally see some form of resolution when it comes to this incredible plot line. Until next time.  

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